General Election 7th May 2015

[David Gwilliam]

Looking at JBs post number 70 and the manifesto for Mrs White it is embarrassing to say that I agree with something she says. I would ban halal slaughter. People are entitled to believe whatever nonsense they like; they are not entitled to act in a way that is cruel. I am a meat eater but want to know that the animal is killed as painlessly as possible.

Of course Mrs White will get very few votes. I hope she gets more than a grand character called Ronnie Carroll.

Ronnie Carroll was a popular singer in the 1950s and was notable for two failed attempts to win the Eurovision Song Contest. He stood in a 2009 by-election in an attempt to get "null votes". He failed getting 29. This election Ronnie Carroll is standing again. Despite being dead he is a candidate in Hampstead and Kilburn again with the aim of getting "nul votes". .

 

[Mawsley]

I would ban halal slaughter. People are entitled to believe whatever nonsense they like; they are not entitled to act in a way that is cruel. I am a meat eater but want to know that the animal is killed as painlessly as possible.

Genuine question, David: have you ever been inside a slaughter house?

 

[jb5000]

Why does no one ever talk about banning kosher slaughter?

 

[give_us_a_wave]

Why does no one ever talk about banning kosher slaughter?

Because if you did you'd be branded a Nazi & put on some sort of watch list.Banning Halal is OK though as that just means you're proper Engerland innit? Once you accept that the vast majority of people know **** all about anything & have no desire to,life becomes much less stressful I find.

 

[Macky]

Why does no one ever talk about banning kosher slaughter?

Probably for similar reasons as to why the media regularly decry female genital mutilation, but would never, ever even mention male genital mutilation, despite them both being vile, disgusting practices.

 

[jb5000]

Because if you did you'd be branded a Nazi & put on some sort of watch list.Banning Halal is OK though as that just means you're proper Engerland innit? Once you accept that the vast majority of people know **** all about anything & have no desire to,life becomes much less stressful I find.

Just as I suspected.

 

[David Gwilliam]

Genuine question, David: have you ever been inside a slaughter house?

Apologies for the delay in answering. No I have not.

I saw someone one mention this earlier today. They mentioned Suez, the Profumo affair, sterling devaluation, the three day week, the Iranian embassy hostages, the Brixton race riots, the Falklands, 9/11, 7/7. I was somewhat taken aback that they didn't mention The Big One.

Profumo was not a worst crisis; Profumo was a most enjoyable crisis.

Jeff’s post was particularly interesting and I think he is right.

First Past The Post was a good system in the 1950s and 1960s when there were only two serious parties. A small lead by Labour over Conservative or vice versa was exaggerated to give the government an effective working majority. First Past The Post gave a strong link between the MP and his constituency. When I first saw Parliament in 1960 the Conservative benches were full of “Knights of the Shire” and Labour of Trade Union officials. They were easy to criticize but they really cared about the areas they represented.

The problem did not become urgent in 1997, 2001 and 2005 because rightly or wrong Tony Blair had a great deal of support. . The sustem blatantly failed to produce a government with a working majority in 2010. This was despite the SNP UKIP the Greens each getting less than 1 million votes. (The SNP figures are obvious skewed by not fighting English seats).

The rise of the SNP UKIP and the Greens has been remarkable. They each represent a valid point of view and their supporters deserve to be represented. This makes First Past The Post dysfunctional.

There are major problems with proportional representation. One is that you cannot split your vote. I am a Labour supporter but one of my two council votes will go to the Lib Dem Nigel Porter because I think he has been a superb councillor. Under proportional representation you are voting for a slate of candidates. Those candidates will be the ones like Jon Ashworth who can be relied on not to make trouble. Troublemakers like Bevan, Churchill or Lloyd George would never have got on such a slate..

It may well be that the party with the most votes does not get the most seats as has happened before in 1951 and 1974. When the parties involved both believed in First Past The Post that was accepted. It may well be that UKIP and the Greens will outpoll the Lib Dems but the Lib Dems get far more seats. Since neither believe in First Past The Post they are entitled to question the legitimacy of the election.

With some reluctance I feel some form of proportional representation has become necessary.

 

[Mawsley]

It's just that my experience was certainly not positive. Stress levels in the animals was pretty evident and a number weren't slaughtered swiftly. I've not seen animals being slaughtered in a Halal fashion but I struggle to see how it would be much worse than what I witnessed.

And both pale compared to the drawn out suffering of Nick Clegg's campaign.

 

[jb5000]

There are major problems with proportional representation. One is that you cannot split your vote. I am a Labour supporter but one of my two council votes will go to the Lib Dem Nigel Porter because I think he has been a superb councillor. Under proportional representation you are voting for a slate of candidates. Those candidates will be the ones like Jon Ashworth who can be relied on not to make trouble. Troublemakers like Bevan, Churchill or Lloyd George would never have got on such a slate..

You're only looking at the horrible system we use for electing MEPs - most PR fans favour the STV system as used in the Republic of Ireland. This gives much more power to voters over parties, by effectively allowing for an open primary at the same time as the actual election. In RoI about a third of TDs who lose their seats in any given election lose them to someone of their own party.

..and pleased to see you're voting Lib Dem ;-)

 

[fox58]

It's the final countdown

 

[Blaarev]

It's the final countdown

Dada da da. Dadadadada. dada da da dadadadada

 

[pork pie fox]

Dada da da. Dadadadada. dada da da dadadadada

:icon_bigg I just did the same thing in my mind.

 

[Blaarev]

:icon_bigg I just did the same thing in my mind.

Can't get rid of the bloody thing now

 

[Mawsley]

Dada da da. Dadadadada. dada da da dadadadada

Get out.

 

[Blaarev]

Get out.

I almost want spion to post a playlist now, to help me get it out of my mind.

 

[spionfox]

I almost want spion to post a playlist now, to help me get it out of my mind.

Thanks to 64bit iTunes and sluggish LastFM scrobbler developers I can't :icon_sad:

Mind you, it's all Hot Chocolate ATM.

 

[Blaarev]

Thanks to 64bit iTunes and sluggish LastFM scrobbler developers I can't :icon_sad:

Mind you, it's all Hot Chocolate ATM.

The evil 64bit itunes sluggish LastFM scrobbler developers that prevents you from posting in the "what are you listening to now thread" must have relised that they had a mission in life.

 

[spionfox]

The evil 64bit itunes sluggish LastFM scrobbler developers that prevents you from posting in the "what are you listening to now thread" must have relised that they had a mission in life.

**** :icon_lol:

 

[Lako42]

It's the final countdown

Thank ****

 

[homer]

Thank ****

Except that we've another two weeks at least of vile, backstabbing, hypocritical horse trading to cone before we get a government

Happy days

Vote homer